An Unusual Day (and lots of pictures)

About an hour from our Church base of operations is the village of Piliguin. We served there today in our ongoing Luke 9:2 January 2020 Medical & Spiritual Mission. Most Important of all: Dr. Ponce preached a sermon and along with the local pastor, brought six people to Christ even before the clinic began!

The very emotional impact of today is next, but first, today’s numbers:

* 233 patients were diagnosed
* 33 patients went to Dr. Rick & the Dental Team for 52 teeth to be pulled
* Dr. Elias in the mobile dental van saw 13 patients for 8 fillings, 2 cleanings, & 2 extractions
* Nurse Practitioner Todd gave 17 injections, mostly shoulders & knees
* The Vision Team saw 47 patients and after testing, provided 19 readers, 2 distance glasses & 5 sunglasses
* And the final report from Miles leading the Food Distribution Team took an unusual initial start, reporting 8,746 Beans, 9,915 Corn kernels, and a banner day with Rice at 15,427 grains delivered! ? Sadly, the group needed more manageable number, which was 144 families receiving food, but it was great news either way!

After dinner, the whole mission team talked about the impact that registered on us:

“I always ask the Lord to please help this person heal. But, most importantly I ask the Lord to give this person the Desire & Power to follow Him. The most important thing we do, is to pray with them.
(Dentist Dr. Rick)

“Learning what questions to ask to really understand their problems was critical. With that, there were people who asked me to pray for them, and we did. I feel great about the experience, but I am frustrated we can’t fix everything we see needing attention.
(Nurse Brittany)

“I was really touched when a patient asked me to pray for her family, especially for a problem with her husband. She’s there for treatment of real physical pain, and yet she needed this spiritual help as well.”
(Dental Assistant Bremely)

“The last two days have just been really busy. Along with just helping out, I appreciate the skills of the translators, which proved critical to getting extra instructions to patients on how to take their medicine.”
(Pharmacist Kelley)

“I’ll remember how cool the kids were and one thing in particular. At one point, a group of girls asked who the “smart” doctors were. I pointed to a group of our team nearby, all women, and told them they are all really, really smart and medical leaders for us. But, the girls seemed surprised by that. When asked what they want to be when they grow up, it was really clear they hadn’t thought about it.”
(Miles, Food Team)

It wasn’t our most number of patients day, but it was very successful. “It was really good to have a little more time with each family. We felt a very personal connection with many of the people we met.”
(Doctor Kristen)

“It’s difficult to bridge the language barrier sometimes, but despite the fact the patient is often scared, we were able to share with them that everything is going to be okay. People back home have no idea what people here have to go through to get very basic care.”
(Dental Assistant Renea)

Bottom line: There’s a whole lot of need here for some really great people.

Tomorrow, we’re off to the struggling village of Casa De Diamantes, to see what it is the Lord will have us do!

Pictures from Guaimaca and Piliguin…and from our visit to El Picacho (The Statue of Christ) overlooking the capital city of Tegucigalpa: